In the wake of the Google+ Nymwars, the events of the Arab Spring, and discussion surrounding the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), there is a growing need for both companies and users to have a better understanding of how terms of service (ToS) and community policing methods affect online speech. Social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+--as well as video and photo-sharing sites--are increasingly playing the role of the public sphere, and policies around content removal and account deactivation can have chilling effects on free expression.

Chiranuch Premchaiporn, more commonly known by her pseudonym, “Jiew,” is the director of one of Thailand’s most popular alternative news sites, Prachatai. EFF has been following Jiew’s work--and her commitment to free expression--for quite some time. In October 2010, following a conference on Internet freedom, Jiew was arrested upon re-entering Thailand. EFF conducted an interview with her shortly afterward.

When a state government stores public property information in an electronic format, the format of its storage shouldn't change citizens' right to access the information, right? Well, wrong -- at least in California after a recent Court of Appeal decision. But, in an encouraging sign, on Wednesday, the California Supreme Court granted a petition to hear the case and review the lower court's decision.

In a disappointing ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned a decision by a federal district court that had downsized damages in Sony v. Tenenbaum, a file-sharing case in which a jury originally ordered a college student to pay $675,000 for infringing copyrights in 30 songs. District court Judge Nancy Gertner had found the award so "oppressive" as to be unconstitutional, and reduced it to $67,500. The appellate court did not expressly disagree on the constitutional question but found the court should not have considered the issue.

We’ve been puzzling over the Author’s Guild’s decision to sue several university libraries for participating in the digitization and storage of millions of works (largely in connection with the Google Books project) and making scans of some of those works available to the academic community. Simply put, it appears that the Guild is dead set on wasting time and money addressing imaginary harms, whether or not its efforts might actually benefit either its members or the public.

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Many companies support and encourage charitable giving by matching employee gifts to US 501(c)(3) nonprofits like EFF. Apple just announced that it will start matching gifts of up to $10,000 per employee per year! Google matches contributions when you designate them to EFF's Technology and Innovation Fund. Try our matching donation search tool to see if your company will match your donation! (Note: Apple is still being added to this database.)